Bloodletting: Aria of the Forgotten: Book One by Sean Thomas

SPSFC 2023

The planet Syrullia, once a military and economic superpower, is in crisis. Reactionary bigots control the government. A vicious private military organization occupies the poorest sections of its cities. The threat of galactic war looms ever-larger. And a raging drug epidemic, fueled by a cheap, highly addictive narcotic called bloodspice, claims thousands of lives a day. Amidst this turmoil, private investigator Raivena Moss is hired by a grieving mother named Halunek to look into the death of her son, a university dropout and bloodspice addict. His death was ruled an accidental overdose, but suspicious bruises on his wrists and neck give Halunek reason to believe he was murdered. The investigation leads Raivena to the most dangerous corners of the galaxy and forces her to confront her identity as a “Forgotten.” Racially mixed and rumored to possess preternatural abilities, most “Forgotten” were hunted down and killed by a fanatical theocratic government years ago. As Raivena plunges deeper into the investigation, she realizes the case goes far beyond a single murder. With the help of an unlikely source, she uncovers proof of a ghastly crime, shocking in its scope and cruelty. Now she must risk her life to expose this insidious plot before millions of innocent men, women, and children suffer a horrifying fate. An allegory about the compounding violence of hate, Bloodletting is both a portal to a strange, new world—and a mirror image of our own.

Adult • Science Fiction/Space Opera